Another day, another dollar, and another puzzle! Let’s hear it for puzzle #17… a tricky little photo of an obvious item (obvious to us, anyway!). Have fun guessing— please leave us a comment with your guess, and check back in with us on Friday for the answer to our puzzle. All answers will be published then as well.
Hmmmm…
Warm sunshine, freshly made lemonade complete with lemon slices, a boat ride, juicy watermelon (seed spitting contests included), and sitting outside in the early evening to watch the fireflies. These are some of our favorite summer things. We request you to leave us a comment with your favorite summer pleasure. We would love to add your comment to a master list, and next week we will be posting the official Create & Decorate Guide to Simple Summer Pleasures. The summer days and nights fly by so quickly. We invite you to enjoy life’s little moments. We will be posting this list for you to print out and use as a check list to accomplish one simple pleasure for each of the remaining days of summer. By summer’s end, you will be able to look back and remember all of the little moments you took joy in.
Noelle has informed me that we are inviting you to enjoy summer, although we are not! Ouch. So, we are creating this list for us to enjoy, too. Take time to smell the flowers, friends. We know we need to as well. 🙂
One of you lucky commenters will be randomly drawn to win one of our favorite summertime books, Summer: A user’s guide. (yay!) The author of this book, Suzanne Brown has packed these pages with ideas for living life to the fullest in the summer months. You will find crafts, recipes, and nostalgia, as well as enticing photographs that will make you feel like you are on vacation even if you are only reading in your own backyard.
Noelle and I know we left you friends feeling a bit frustrated with last week’s puzzle. To make it up to you, this week we brought you a friendlier guessing game. As many of you thought, this week our vintage item is a matchbox holder. The box slides in the top of the holder, and the hole on the side allows you to strike the match against the box. Thank you for sharing an overwhelming amount of guesses (and family reflections). As always, you made us smile. Click here to read the guesses. See you for another puzzle next Wednesday. Happy weekend!
Fancy meeting you here on Wednesday! Here we go… puzzle #16. You know how this works by now: leave a comment with your guess, and check back in with us on Friday to see the answer to this puzzle and read the posted guesses!
I wrote about our strawberry adventures a few days ago, and also let you know about our strawberry recipe contest.
Looking at the berries I had left over (there wasn’t too much–fresh berries never last long around here), I mentally went through my tried-and-true strawberry recipes: stawberry shortcake, jam (which I did make), strawberry scones, and strawberry muffins. After some deliberation, I decided I wanted to make something I had never tried before. There was a delicious-looking Strawberry Summer Cake from Smitten Kitchen that I had been drooling over for awhile, but while sitting in the office, I asked Beverly if she had ever had strawberry upside-down cake. “Do you think it even exists?” I asked her. “It has to,” she said. “Google it.” But before I did, I realized why I had thought of this cake: I had already seen it, on the delightful blog Joy the Baker.
It’s an easy recipe that comes together pretty quickly, and yields a moist cake with a sticky, sweet, berry-filled top.
Strawberry Upside-down Cake
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Well, we really stumped you with this puzzle, didn’t we? This little toaster was picked up at a yard sale for one dollar (and a smile). It is still in working condition but might have a promising future as a cute mail holder on the kitchen counter (unplugged, of course). To read the amazing guesses click here.
And because you were all such terrific sports with this difficult “What is it?” puzzle this week, we are giving away the book The Joy of Hobby Farming by Michael and Audrey Levantino, (from Skyhorse Publishing)! We have randomly drawn the name from our guesses, and Dorene Nagy has won this prize! Congratulations, Dorene. Please send us an email with your full name and mailing address at editors@createandecorate.com. (We just love our readers, and those who aren’t afraid to take a wild guess. xo)
What berry was this 17th century English writer speaking of? Why, the strawberry of course! Some may beg to differ (who knows, there may be some hardcore raspberry fans out there), but you cannot deny the pure joy that comes from the very first strawberries of the season. They make an appearance when the harsh winds of winter give way to warm rays of sunshine, flowers begin peeping from the soil, and all the fresh produce begins to tempt us from farmstands. At this time of June here in the Northeast, we can count on strawberries (whether they’ll be good or not is another story–I’m looking at you, Mother Nature, in all your fickle glory).
There is a strawberry farm only 10 minutes from the Create & Decorate office, and when they are ready to be picked, the strawberry balloon can be seen flying high above the farm. Beverly drives by it every day on her way to work, and I have been pestering her for a few weeks now with “Is the strawberry flying yet?” Living in this area all of my 27 years, I will admit, it excites me to see it just as much now as it did when I was little, and my parents used to take my sister, brother, and I to pick strawberries on hot June afternoons. We would be dressed in our oldest clothes because we would inevitably return home covered in sticky red juice, our bellies bulging with who knows how many strawberries picked right off the stem, warm from the sun and perfectly sweet.
And now, it has become a new tradition for Beverly and I to head over to the farm, grab a basket, and start a-pickin’.
Here’s us, just being silly (cause, you know, we’re usually incredibly professional):
Okay, it’s pretty much just me being silly. Beverly looks quite lovely, and yes, very professional.
And of course, we had to sample some (just don’t tell the farmer that, cause I’m pretty sure that’s frowned upon).
Okay, I had to include this picture because, well, look at it! Tell me I do not look like a giant in this picture! ROOOOOAAARRR! I’M COMING TO EAT YOUR STRAWBERRIES!
It’s also become a tradition for us to eat at a nearby diner (we do this after we go junking, too). We are in Jersey, after all. It’s a cool retro one, see?
Mmmm…cakes ‘n pies.
We had yummy BLT’s. But that’s another story for another day.
And, um, I don’t know what I’m looking at, but apparently, it’s interesting:
A lesson to you all: don’t be around Beverly and a camera. She likes to take your picture when you’re not looking.
And that’s the end of our strawberry adventures—which means we now have a bounty of sweet little jewels that are just begging to be made into a big ‘ol pile of deliciousness. So how about you share your favorite strawberry recipe with us? Puh-leeeease? You could win a one-year subscription to Create & Decorate! Yahooo! Just send your recipe to editors@createanddecorate.com by June 30th. Including a picture would be helpful (but not required), so we know it turned out right when we make it 🙂 Happy strawberryin’!
Happy Wednesday, everyone!
This week we have been a little tricky with an optical illusion for our game, but if you friends have been following our junking adventures on facebook, it is easier than you think!
Please leave us a comment with your guess as to what this item is, and check back with us this Friday to read the guesses and see the full photo answer. 🙂
We have obviously frustrated you loyal “What is it?” Wednesday fans with a tough puzzle. So, to make amends, here is a CLUE: The above vintage item is something always found in the kitchen, and was probably used daily.
Just for leaving a guess, Noelle and I will randomly draw one winner from the guesses on Friday, June 17th, to be the recipient of something summery and fun..
We are pleased to offer you this crochet project intentionally created for you, Create & Decorate blog friends, in honor of Flag Day. Our friend, and designer, Vickie Zelizo answered our request with this one-stitch wonder in timely fashion. Perfect to use as a mat for your table (wouldn’t it look great as a candle mat?), or tack proudly behind a twig wreath on your front door all summer long, we are sure you will find numerous ways to display!
Crochet Flag
Designed by Vickie Zelizo
This only stitch used is a single crochet, which makes this patriotic piece a very easy and quick project. (Perfect!)
Scan of finished piece to show truer color and detail
Materials
1 ball Lily Sugar ‘n Cream, color Country Red (A)
1 ball Lily Sugar ‘n Cream Twists, color Barnboard Twists (B)
1 ball Lily Sugar ‘n Cream Denim, color Blue Jeans (C)
Size H (5 mm) crochet hook
Full Stripes
With A chain (ch) 37.
Row 1: Single crochet (sc) in second ch from hook, sc across. [36 sc]
Rows 2-4: Ch 1 turn, sc across.
Row 5: Drop A, pick up B, ch 1 turn, sc across.
Rows 6-8: Ch 1 turn, sc across.
Continue to sc 4 rows of each color as follows:
4 rows A
4 rows B
4 rows A
Add the Blue Field
Row 1: With B, ch 1 turn, (ch 1 counts as the first sc) sc in the first 20 sc, drop B, with C, sc in the next 16 sc.
Row 2: Ch 1, turn, sc in first 16 sc, drop C, pick up B, sc across.
Rows 3-4: Repeat last 2 rows.
Row 5: With A, ch 1 turn, sc in the first 20 sc, drop A, pick up C, sc next 16 sc.
Row 6: Ch 1 turn, sc in first 16 sc, drop C, pick up A, sc across.
Rows 7-8: Repeat last 2 rows.
Repeat last 8 rows. Fasten off. Weave in the ends.
Abbreviations
Chain: ch
Single Crochet: sc
Happy Friday! Well, this was a fun puzzle. Many of you knew immediately what this week’s item was, but there were also great guesses, too. (Click here for those.)
This week’s item is a David Traum 1950’s skirt hem pin marking tool (that’s a mouth full!). I acquired this vintage piece from my friend from church, Wilma. Whenever I utilize something that belonged to Wilma I smile to myself. We use many of her vintage fabrics to accent pages in Create & Decorate magazine, and also use glasses purchased from her collection while styling for our photography. If you would like to read our original post about Wilma, click here.
See you next Wednesday for more fun!
Create & Decorate—the blog 